Who knew that you could ski in Ukraine, home to the Carpathian Mountains? This mountain range is stretched across Central and Eastern Europe, making it the third largest mountain range after the Urals (Russia) and Scandinavian mountains (Norway, Sweden). The Carpathians and their foothills also have many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania having one-third of the European total.

Bukovel Ski Resort in Ukraine offers a fantastic ski/snowboard experience. The resort features 60 kilometers total of slopes, with 16 modern ski lifts and the latest achievments in snow-making and snow-grooming machinery.

From Lviv, I drove the rental car for 230km to Bukovel. The journey took 4 hours due to the winding mountain roads and the roads are only two-lanes across or sometimes one land, so when there is a slow vehicle on the road, it slows down the traffic.

For a one-day ski pass, it costs 1120 UAH (~S$56). The more days of ski pass purchased, the lower the price. Ski rental was about S$20-30 depending on the quality of the gear. Overall, it is still more affordable to ski in Ukraine compared to other Western European countries such as Switzerland, France, Germany etc. Moreover, Bukovel is popular with many tourists among the region as the ski slopes are extensive and the facilities are top-notch.

I was lucky to enjoy a day of heavy snow, so the slopes were filled with powdery, fresh snow which made it a joy to ski down the slopes. It was snowing non-stop for the whole morning and continued to the afternoon. However, it was not a pleasant experience for me when I skied down the slope without any goggles because the force of the snow hitting against my face was like a million stones being thrown at me. Ultimately, I took out my sunglasses to shelter part of my face from the falling snowflakes.

For those who do not ski, there is a wide range of other activities to do, be it dog sledding to having a soak at the thermal spa. These huskies were lazing around in the snow while waiting for customers to select them for their ride. I did not get to try dog-sledding as I was busy skiing with whole day.

If you are not a professional skier, there are many ski instructors available for hire at the resort. These kids were learning how to ski. I was impressed that kids as young as 3 years ago were picking up skiing. I feel that it is easier to learn skiing at a young age and I am glad that I picked up this skill when I was 8 years old.

There were many beginner slopes at Bukovel, so people need not be afraid of falling as the impact is lesser. There are also safety barriers and friendly ski instructors at hand to assist you.

For those staying at Bukovel ski resort, you can expect to stay in these beautiful log cabins which offer great accessibility to the slopes. When night falls, there are quite a lot of things to do at Bukovel, be it checking out the local stores or have an apres-ski party on the slopes.

You need not worry about where to place your ski gear if you decide to visit the toilet or go for a lunch break. There are abundant racks for you to place your snowboard or skis. Theft is uncommon at the ski resort, though you should keep a lookout for your own belongings by sitting near the window.

I had a late lunch at one of the restaurants on the ski slopes. The food is decent and the prices are reasonable. I had a chicken cutlet with mashed potatoes and long beans. Since my hands were frozen, I ordered a glass of hot chocolate to warm myself up. Note that it is important to get waterproof gloves when skiing or you may suffer from cold hands like me!

Since it was winter time, it got dark quite early, around 4pm. Besides dog sledding, there is also a bike zip. This is not for the faint-hearted who are afraid of heights. This bike zip is a breathtaking ride over a specially constructed course, over the marvelous Lake of Youth, enchanted with spectacular panoramic views of the Carpathians. The length of the line is 560 meters and you would be peddling across the line with harness and safety equipment.

My day pass expired at 5.30pm so I could not take the chairlift up the slopes anymore and decided to make my way back to Lviv.

This is the main rental shop for the skis. For convenience, we parked our car at the nearest parking lot and hired our skis from this shop. Further below the entrance of the ski resort, there are several rental shops which may offer more competitive prices, but I did not want the hassle of lugging my skis around so I chose to rent from this shop. The good thing about this shop is that they also provided me with a helmet, unlike in Georgia where I only had the skis and boots.

How to get to Bukovel?

From Lviv.
Comfortable shuttle bus from Lviv is operated by Kalyna Tour company. Bus departs every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday at 03:00 from Lviv arriving in Bukovel at 08:00. From Bukovel ski resort the same bus departs at 17:00 arriving to Lviv at 22:00. One way ticket is 100 UAH (9 EUR, 12 USD). Contact Kalyna-Tour to get your seat at least a few days in advance.
Also you can take direct train Lviv-Rakhiv and get out in Tatariv (10 km from Bukovel). Train #606 departs from Lviv daily at 15:20 arriving to Tatariv at 21:43. On the way back it departs from Tatariv at 02:57 arriving to Lviv at 09:13. Lviv-Tatariv train ticket costs are 58 UAH – kupe, 41 UAH – platskart, 16 UAH – seater.

From Kyiv and othe places of Ukraine.
Simply take one of numerous direct night trains to Ivano-Frankivsk and change to bus. Bus station is situated 200 meter to the left once you get out the train station.

For more convenience, it is better to rent a car and self-drive to Bukovel. For me, I rented my car from Ukr-Prokat at Lviv Airport. which cost about 30 EUR per day. There are also other car rental companies such as Avis, Hertz, Sixt, Europcar at the airport.